Obverse

Reverse

Translation

Τὸν Καματηρὸν μῆτερ ἀγνὴ με σκέποις.

Holy Mother, may you protect me, Kamateros.

Commentary

Dodecasyllabic.This is one of the rare Byzantine seals depicting a narrative scene. Unfortunately, the obverse is badly effaced and the details of the iconography are hardly discernible. Since only the family name of the bearer of the seal is mentioned, it is difficult to associate the seal with any other twelfth-century specimen known to have belonged to other Kamateroi. Cf. Jordanov, Corpus II, p. 174.

The combination of letters gamma-nu is rendered as a ligature consisting of a regular gamma with a miniature nu placed on top of its arm. This is visible more clearly on this specimen's better preserved parallel, BZS.1955.1.4046.